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SearchToday in Islamophobia: Review shows Marjorie Taylor Greene indicated support for executing prominent Democrats in 2018 and 2019 before running for Congress. In Bangladesh, almost 3,000 more Rohingya refugees are moved to Bhasan Char despite widespread criticism from rights groups. Our recommended read of the day is by Leah Feiger on a Yemeni family who were targeted by U.S drones, and are now seeking justice. This, and more, below:
International
A Yemeni Family Was Repeatedly Attacked by U.S. Drones. Now, They're Seeking Justice | Recommended Read
Over the next five years, members of the al Ameri and al Taisy families, and their neighbors, were victims of six more attacks. The year 2017 was particularly brutal: they say that 15 members of their families were killed on January 29 after an on the ground raid, two distantly related neighbors died on March 6, one family member was killed on November 23, three died on November 26, and one died on December 22, during drone strikes. Less than a year later, on September 18, 2020, two more family members were killed. Over seven separate attacks by the United States—six drones strikes and one raid—36 members of the al Ameri and al Taisy families were killed. A quarter of them were children between the ages of three months and 14 years old. The families lost loved ones, homes, livestock, and neighbors, as 12 other people were killed by the strikes as well. Though U.S. government authorities have claimed throughout the years that the targets were terrorists, investigators and the families have consistently said that is untrue. While it has been seven years since the first strike, they still haven’t received any answers; instead, they live in fear. read the complete article
Erdogan: Islamophobia, xenophobia should stop
"The international community should take action so that tragedies such as the Holocaust, Bosnia, Rwanda, and Cambodia do not recur," he said. Erdogan said that humanity is going through a difficult period, adding that the "racism virus" has become increasingly widespread along with the pandemic. He underlined that there is a "serious increase" in acts of violence on places of worship, such as mosques, synagogues, and churches. "Hate crimes against some segments of society with different ethnic identities, religions, language, and appearances have been increasing day by day." Racist terrorism has turned into a security threat that undermines social peace and people's will to live together, Erdogan said. read the complete article
United States
Marjorie Taylor Greene indicated support for executing prominent Democrats in 2018 and 2019 before running for Congress
Greene, who represents Georgia's 14th Congressional District, frequently posted far-right extremist and debunked conspiracy theories on her page, including the baseless QAnon conspiracy which casts former President Donald Trump in an imagined battle against a sinister cabal of Democrats and celebrities who abuse children. In one post, from January 2019, Greene liked a comment that said "a bullet to the head would be quicker" to remove House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. In other posts, Greene liked comments about executing FBI agents who, in her eyes, were part of the "deep state" working against Trump. In one Facebook post from April 2018, Greene wrote conspiratorially about the Iran Deal, one of former President Barack Obama's signature foreign policy achievements. A commenter asked Greene, "Now do we get to hang them ?? Meaning H & O ???," referring to Obama and Hillary Clinton. Greene replied, "Stage is being set. Players are being put in place. We must be patient. This must be done perfectly or liberal judges would let them off." After CNN reached out to Greene, her personal Twitter account posted a statement in which she did not deny that she liked posts and replied to comments but claimed that many people have run her Facebook page. read the complete article
Biden reverses Trump’s ‘Muslim ban.’ Americans support the decision.
Biden has called the policy “morally wrong” and “designed to target primarily Black and Brown immigrants.” Polls show that U.S. public opinion is on his side. That’s a shift from polls conducted in January 2017, which suggested that roughly half of Americans initially supported the ban. What changed these attitudes? Our research suggests that Americans may have turned against the ban only days after it was enacted, mainly because of the news media’s critical coverage. And that rapid shift has lasted — because many were persuaded that the ban was “un-American.” read the complete article
Green card reform, no more Muslim ban: What Biden’s immigration proposals promise
Over his four years in power, Trump took over 400 executive actions on immigration without any congressional input, and Biden is already working to undo some of them. Among the executive orders Biden has signed is one that preserves the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, initiated by former President Barack Obama, which protects undocumented immigrants who came to the US as children – known as “Dreamers” – from being deported. Trump had tried to undo the Obama-era program. read the complete article
Far-right extremism in the US is deadly serious. What will Biden do about it?
A few days later Biden both narrowed and broadened his focus. While there were still implicit references to the far right, most notably the storming of the Capitol on 6 January, the focus was now on “domestic violent extremism”. Why we needed yet another neologism, rather than the common term “domestic terrorism”, was not explained – nor was the fact that most definitions of extremism include the threat or use of violence, which makes the phrase “violent extremism” redundant. But leaving aside semantics, much more problematic was the generalization of the threat. Did jihadis storm the Capitol? Were “eco-terrorists” involved? Or antifa? No, the only people storming the Capitol were a broad variety of conspiracy theorists, white supremacists, and other far-right adherents. read the complete article
Bangladesh
Bangladesh to move 2,000-3,000 more Rohingya Muslims to remote island despite criticism
Bangladesh will move 2,000-3,000 more Rohingya Muslim refugees to a remote island in the Bay of Bengal this week, a navy officer said on Wednesday, despite complaints by rights groups concerned about the site’s vulnerability to storms and flooding. Bangladesh has relocated about 3,500 of the refugees from neighbouring Myanmar to Bhasan Char island since early December from border camps where a million live in ramshackle huts perched on razed hillsides. read the complete article